Field of the Invention and Related Art
This invention pertains to the cooling of liquids, especially water, and has particular reference to inflated upwardly convex domes such as those used to cover stadia and the like.
In industry, the cooling of water is an old process. Various means, most comprising contacting the water with air, are known. The simplest of these processes comprises allowing the warm water to stand in a pond. Improvement in cooling rate is accomplished by spraying the water into the air and allowing it to fall back into the pond.
Generally preferred, however, particularly in the power, chemical, and related industries where large amounts of heat are rejected, are cooling towers wherein water is sprayed into the tower near the top and allowed to fall through a rising stream of air.
Under the usual conditions of wet cooling tower operation, about 80% of the heat transfer is due to latent heat transfer derived from evaporation of a portion of the water and about 20% is due to sensible heat transfer due to the usual difference between the temperature of the water and that of the air.
Cooling towers, particularly the large hyperbolic towers common in the nuclear power industry, are characterized by very high first costs, especially in the cost of foundations to support the large reinforced concrete walls characteristic of such towers. There is a need for less expensive water-cooling means and it is an object of this invention to provide such means.